There is nothing quite like opening day no matter what the sports. But especially in a city like Gainesville, it feels like it is an awakening, a rebirth of sorts as we all get together to start a new chapter in the history of Florida football.
This one has some special juice because it has been hyped for months, partly because Florida hasn’t played a team ranked this high for an opener since the famous 1969 Houston game.
That’s the thing – the openers are special when the opposition is Charleston Southern or The Citadel.
It’s a reunion of sorts, people getting together for the first time in months, eating and drinking and laughing and sweating.
Sometimes, the first game of the season tells us something. Sometimes, it is forgotten before September is over.
This edition of Dooley’s Dozen looks at the last 12 coaches at Florida (not including the four interim coaches in less than two decades) and how they fared in their openers.
1
Raymond B. (Bear) Wolf, 1946
Chuck Hunsinger. Courtesy: University of Florida SID
Wolf took over a team that had lost the last game of the previous season to the U.S. Amphibs in Norfolk, Va. It didn’t get any better. His first game was a 13-7 loss to Ole Miss. So, there was hope. Right? The Gators went 0-9 and were never that close again. But the good news was that the players from the time referred to it mockingly as the Golden Era and used to have reunions and raise…
